The Jerusalem Artichoke aka Sunchoke should now be know as the Fart-a-choke. Oh my god the amount of gas they produce is amazing if we could tap it we would easily be able to solve a third world countries energy needs with just a few people eating them... I used part of two to make a pot/ tray of stuffing, they overpowered all the other... Read More

These aren't artichokes they are Sunchokes or Jerusalem Artichokes from a species of Sunflower. We are not talking about a little gas we are talking about enough farting occurring in your sleep to wake you up a few times...
I can actually watch my stomach grow and shrink from the gas...

I did it. I made pancakes in Kiev. I had them for breakfast with the Raspberry syrup I made, and black coffee..
I feel full and happy, it is the little things that keep me sane when I can not read or speak the local language. I also spent a chunk of the day studying the freak alphabet again.. I am just being slow picking... Read More

At some point you start looking at the signs on every building you pass, sounding it out to yourself to see if it's a word that's the same in all languages, or at least another one you know. That's the point at which I found the alphabet clicking into place for me. I had the good fortune that this actually hit me the first day, after a short-slept night and fighting off the fatigue with podcast cyrillic lessons. But I imagine the principle holds true.

I've only been in the US twice, for 6 months in total, but I know exactly what you feel.
It's like I've spent my entire life somewhere else, and then just came to Russia, the country I can't even comprehend at times.
Getting used to a number of conveniences is way easier than trying to do without them. I still miss 7/11 stores. Mind, I'm not even American, I was born to Russian parents and spent all my life here, speaking Russian, and being pretty obscure about the rest of the world
Ugh, just realised I've been all the way addressing a person I don't really know, and never introduced myself. (Hi, I'm Lou, it's a pleasure).

And it's been just a lame introduction for a serving of pancakes made in the USA

As for the local language, I can't be very helpful either. The Ukrainian language - is the one that I understand, but do not speak (as well as German and Italian). Just think if you really need it, you can always do with a phrasebook. And there's always someone willing to help, as a matter of fact. Just don't feel stuck, enjoy your experience. It will also pass...

Pancakes dammit... Those things are freaking crepes! I wanted pancakes before I left for Russia. My now bugged out traveling companion the one that found the crappy job in Perm insisted that there was the wonderful place for breakfast. That it was so much better than IHOP (the international house of pancakes) (also known as Lewis Black's health club) I agreed to try it... Read More

I started compiling a list of things I want/need here in Kiev. It is longer than I was expecting, the curse of cooking... Damn, damn, damn now I have to translate the list and find pictures to make sure that I am using the correct word... argh.

I am compiling a list of things that I want/ need in Kiev. It is a longer list than I expected. damn damn damn now I have to start translating all these things and collecting photos to make sure that I use the right word.... argh

It was devoured by Ukrainian truck drivers. (Some of my flatmates students, they inhailed it) But they did leave me a piece. Sort of funny I was worried that I would wind up eating half of it, and I only had two pieces.

So my first brew I sort of cheated and used a concentrated 'beer kit', the sort where you just add water and sugars and boil type of thing.... mostly to get used to aspects of the process, but next I intend to do something more involved.... currently reading Papazian's books on homebrewing to work out what I want to do next.